Romania

En suivant le parcours d'un agriculteur alsacien qui veut tenter sa chance dans les terres noires de Roumanie et des fonds d'investissement qui opèrent en Ukraine, l'enquête permet une réflexion sur la fin annoncée du monde paysan tel qu'il existe aujourd'hui, en Europe de l'Est mais aussi en France.

Alongside countries like Liberia, Laos, Congo and Sierra Leone, Romania is one of the countries where foreign companies own large areas of farmland, according to a report put together by GRAIN.

Foreigners currently have more than 700,000 ha of agricultural land in Romania, representing 8.5 percent of the arable land of the country, says Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Report by HighQuest Partners for the OECD, October 2011, features 6 case studies of land grabbers: Agrica, CalyxAgro, Cazanae, Jantzen, NFD Agro and Quifel

Farmland investments may return 8 percent to 12 percent annually as global food demand increases, said the largest US pensions manager for teachers and academic researchers with $469 billion of assets.

"We are in negotiations with several foreign investment funds that are interested in buying thousands of hectares of Romanian farmland,” says analyst with DTZ Echinox.

The Boerenbond Association, the largest corporate organization of farmers and operators working in agriculture in Belgium, is interested in investment opportunities in Romania's agriculture, including the possibility of buying farmlands there

Romanian officials have started to express worries about an increasing number of foreign companies buying agricultural land in Romania.

L'agriculture roumaine intéresse de plus en plus les investisseurs étrangers. Les autorités sont en train de s’en rendre compte et souhaitent prendre la situation en main.

Around one million hectares of Romania’s farmland are in foreign hands, and the interest in investing in agricultural plots is growing.

Multinationals, foreign entrepreneurs and investment funds eying Romania as a place to develop have either bought up land as a place to develop agriculture, lease or land bank.

Several national companies and even the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the capital's sovereign fund, are planning investments in agriculture in countries as diverse as Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, Australia, Romania and the United States.